What is GifaPalooza Toolbar? And how does it work?

GifaPalooza Toolbar is a yet another deceptive application created by Mindspark Interactive Network also known as IAC applications. This dubious program claims to provide access to a lot of GIF images. Cyber security experts say that most of this toolbar’s users install it unwillingly and are forced to use search.myway.com search engine which is a customized version.
Even though GifaPalooza Toolbar promises to provide unforgettable GIFs which users can view and share, the real aim of this toolbar is not really providing users with tons of GIFs but to generate its revenue. Upon the installation of this toolbar, it will install its own search engine and replace your default search engine as well as your home page address – forcing users to use an unreliable search engine that will only provide sponsored results. So when you use this toolbar’s search engine, you will be seeing more sponsored content rather than related information to your search query, some of the sponsored content might only lead you to unsecure and suspicious websites like phishing websites and even malware-laden websites. You see, as long as you let this toolbar reside on your computer, it will expose your system to dozens of potential cyber threats.
In all fairness, there is no certainty that all the external websites promoted by GifaPalooza Toolbar are all suspicious and dangerous but it would still be better to be safe than sorry. The developers of this toolbar even claims that they are not going to be held responsible for content shared on its affiliated websites – meaning to say, if you come across some highly suspicious content while browsing the web through GifaPalooza Toolbar’s search engine, it won’t take any responsibility for what happens from your interaction with it.
How does GifaPalooza Toolbar circulate online?
You might have stumbled upon GifaPalooza Toolbar when you were looking for GIFs online and you got redirected to free sharing sites which offers bundled programs that includes GifaPalooza Toolbar as an add-on. However, if you weren’t looking for any GIFs and you don’t remember ever installing GifaPalooza Toolbar, then it had possibly hijacked your computer when installed a freeware or shareware. The next time you install these kinds of software packages, you must do so using the Advanced or Custom setup rather than your usual quick setup. This way, you get to discard other programs added in the bundle.
You have to uninstall GifaPalooza Toolbar from your computer before it’s too late. To do so, follow the removal instructions below.
Step1. Close all your infected browsers. If you’re having a hard time closing them, you can close them using the Task Manager just tap on Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
Step2. After you open the Task Manager, go to the Processes tab and look for the infected browser’s process and end it.
Step3. Reset all your browsers to default to their default state.
Google Chrome

1. Launch Google Chrome, press Alt + F, move to More tools, and click Extensions.
2. Look for GifaPalooza Toolbar or any other unwanted add-ons, click the Recycle Bin button, and choose Remove.
3. Restart Google Chrome, then tap Alt + F, and select Settings.
4. Navigate to the On Startup section at the bottom.
5. Select “Open a specific page or set of pages”.
6. Click the More actions button next to the hijacker and click Remove.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open the browser and tap Ctrl + Shift + A to access the Add-ons Manager.
2. In the Extensions menu Remove the unwanted extension.
3. Restart the browser and tap keys Alt + T.
4. Select Options and then move to the General menu.
5. Overwrite the URL in the Home Page section and then restart the browser.

Internet Explorer

1. Launch Internet Explorer.
2. Tap Alt + T and select Internet options.
3. Click the General tab and then overwrite the URL under the homepage section.
4. Click OK to save the changes.

Step4. Open Control Panel by pressing the Windows key + R, then type in appwiz.cpl and then click OK or press Enter.

Step5. Look for any suspicious program that is affiliated with GifaPalooza Toolbar and then Uninstall it.

Step6. Hold down Windows + E keys simultaneously to open File Explorer.
Step7. Navigate to the following directories and look for suspicious files associated to GifaPalooza Toolbar and delete it/them.

• %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
• %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
• %TEMP%

Step8. Close the File Explorer.
Step9. Empty your Recycle Bin.
To make sure that nothing is amiss and that GifaPalooza Toolbar is completely removed from your computer, follow the advanced steps below.
Perform a full system scan using SpyRemover Pro. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Turn on your computer. If it’s already on, you have to reboot
2. After that, the BIOSscreen will be displayed, but if Windows pops up instead, reboot your computer and try again. Once you’re on the BIOS screen, repeat pressing F8, by doing so the Advanced Option shows up.

3. To navigate the Advanced Optionuse the arrow keys and select Safe Mode with Networking then hit
4. Windows will now load the SafeMode with Networking.
5. Press and hold both R key and Windows key.

6. If done correctly, the Windows Run Boxwill show up.
7. Type in explorer http://www.fixmypcfree.com/install/spyremoverpro

A single space must be in between explorer and http. Click OK.

8. A dialog box will be displayed by Internet Explorer. Click Run to begin downloading the program. Installation will start automatically once download is done.

9. Click OK to launch it.
10. Run SpyRemover Pro and perform a full system scan.

11. After all the infections are identified, click REMOVE ALL.

12. Register the program to protect your computer from future threats.